A person exposed to corona or suffering from a disease will be less susceptible to getting new virus strains in the future, says Mika Rämet. Yet no one should conditionally want to get sick, because illness is always a risk.
Did you get sick for coronary heart disease, even though you have already received two or three coronary vaccines?
Illness is never a joke, but there may be something good about it: after two or three vaccines, coronary heart disease produces “superimmunity,” that is, particularly extensive and effective protection against the coronavirus.
“It’s a good thing,” says the director of the Vaccine Research Center Mika Rämet.
Mika Rämet.
Vaccination affects the peak protein in the cells and provides effective but narrow protection against it, so-called sharp protection. The disease, in turn, elicits a broad defense response that targets not only the peak protein but also other parts of the coronavirus.
“It can be expected to provide better protection against possible new virus variants. Therefore, those with the disease will be less susceptible to new viral strains in the future, ”says Rämet.
Superimmunity has also been discussed by a vaccine expert at the Norwegian Public Health Institute Sara Viksmoen Watle. He has reported on the matter in Finland Evening News.
However, self-infection should not be acquired on condition. “I never recommend getting sick, and the coronavirus is no exception,” says Rämet.
Vaccination is a safe way to prevent a serious disease, Rämet recalls. The patient can also infect the disease, even if they are particularly fragile, or spread the virus more widely, for example when shopping.
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“Vaccination taken soon after the illness is not dangerous, but it is useless.”
Superimmunity According to Rämet, it can affect a lifetime in the same way as chickenpox, measles or rubella. The virus encountered is memorized in the cells of the defense system, which are always ready for a new infection.
“The coronavirus will remain one of the new viruses that cause respiratory infections. Each of us will face it many more times in our lives. In the future, we won’t even know if the infection was caused by sars-cov-2 or any of the other viruses that cause respiratory infections, ”he says.
As our resistance to vaccinations and exposure to the virus continues to strengthen, the symptoms of exposure to coronavirus will be milder.
According to Räment, each new infection strengthens the immune system until it weakens with age. In the future, it may be the case that booster vaccinations are given to people who have reached a certain age.
“Of course, it is possible that an evolution will also give rise to a virus that can both circumvent protection and cause severe disease.”
Read more: Coronavirus now tests everyone’s resilience – Three experts tell you what’s ahead and how the pandemic will end
Health and Welfare (THL)
instructions
a third dose of the vaccine is strongly recommended for a person who is severely immunocompromised, even if they have coronary heart disease. Others do not need a third dose as instructed if they have had coronary heart disease and received two doses of the vaccine.
Also the city of Helsinki instructions it is stated that the third dose will not be given for the time being if the person has suffered from coronavirus disease and has received two doses of vaccination.
On the other hand, THL recommends a second dose of vaccination for those over 60 years of age and those at risk, 3-4 months after the first dose of the vaccine or the disease, whichever is last.
HS did not reach Representatives of THL and not the City of Helsinki to specify the instructions.
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According to Rämet, now is the last moment to improve vaccination coverage.
Is there any risk of vaccination if taken during or immediately after the illness?
“No,” Rämet replies.
“Vaccination taken soon after the illness is not dangerous, but it is useless.”
According to Rämet, vaccinated people in particular may not even know they have been exposed to the coronavirus, as the infection may be asymptomatic. Therefore, vaccination may be inadvertently taken at the same time as exposure to the virus. Then the vaccination is kind of wasted because the disease provides the same protection as the vaccine.
At present, many vaccinees become ill because the omicron variant is able to pass the protection provided by two doses of the vaccine more effectively than previous viral variants.
However, getting sick does not mean that vaccinations have been unnecessary. “You might think that without the vaccine, the disease would have been much more severe,” says Rämet.
Vaccine raises antibody levels, but gradually they do. According to Rämet, they have to do the same. “If the antibodies didn’t decrease, we would become full of antibodies to the different viruses we encountered over time.”
Authorities’ views on the duration of vaccination efficacy have varied.
In THL’s view, the protective efficacy of vaccination against serious coronavirus disease will remain very good in the majority of the population for at least six months. However, the THL and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have recently recommended a vaccination interval of three to four months.
In many places, vaccination intervals have been shortened.
According to Rämet, this is a good thing: “To put it simply: the more doses of vaccine given, the stronger the immune protection we have on average, the fewer cases and the milder they are.”
Just now the number of corona infections is at record levels both in Finland and worldwide. More than 11,000 infections were reported in Finland on Friday, including Christmas-time infections. There were more than a million infections worldwide.
“The actual number of cases in Finland is still much higher than reported,” Rämet reminds.
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“In that sense, 2021 has been a wonderful year. We believe that the coming year will be even better – also in terms of the corona. ”
Although it is already known that the omicron variant causes at least a somewhat milder disease than the original virus, it is only in the future that the significance of the pathogen will become apparent.
Read more: South Africa: Omicronutral retreat, effects of viral transformation on mortality negligible
According to Rämet, now is the last moment to improve vaccination coverage.
“When schools start again after the Christmas holidays, infections increase. And, for example, vaccinations for children under 5 will not be available for a long time to come, ”he says.
However, he is very lucky, however, that the big wave of disease is only here now and not in the spring of 2020.
“We have reached a situation where everyone who is willing has been able to get vaccinated and can therefore receive the virus with the protection it provides. At the population level, we have been able to reduce the burden of illness, absenteeism, serious illness, suffering and death. ”
From the current Despite the gloomy figures, Finland has succeeded in fighting the corona in Rämet’s opinion quite well. According to him, mortality due to the corona has been very low in Finland.
“In that sense, 2021 has been a wonderful year. We believe that the coming year will be even better – also in terms of the corona. ”
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